Introduction

This verse has several points that are exceptionally tricky to translate. For example, some scholars believe that a line is duplicated here that only belongs in verse 79. Also, later editions added and changed characters that significantly alter the meaning. Earlier versions of the verse were incomplete, making reconstruction difficult. It was worth it, though, as the message embedded was uncannily timely for me. And perhaps for you, too. 

The through-line that emerged from the chaos of these characters guides us in how we relate to overwhelming situations. 

Translation

Act (y)in-action.
Engage non-reactively.
Taste tastelessness.

Great, Small, Many, Few;
  Repay hostility with Integrity.

Plan for difficulty through its ease,
  enact greatness through its subtlety.

The world’s
  difficulties are addressed through simplicity.
  greatness is created through refinement.

This is why the Wise never take up greatness,
  therefore they are able to become their greatest.

That which is easily promised,
  Is certainly untrustworthy.
Excess ease ensures excess hardship.

This is why the Wise plan for difficulty,
  therefore always being without hardship.

Commentary

Act (y)in-action.
Engage non-reactively.
Taste tastelessness. 

The opening lines are potent axioms when decoded. 

Act (y)in-action is a common precept of Weaving the Way. For more on Act (y)in-action, check out verses 29, 38, 43, 48, and 57. The basic principle is to descend through the surface level activity of external referencing so that you can move from, and as, Integrity. Integrity (德, dé) refers to relating to the sensory, emotional, and cognitive experience in a way that aligns thoughts, words, and deeds to support the undistorted, harmonious unfolding of life. 

Engage non-reactively says to stay engaged, but be engaged on purpose. These lines from verse 15 capture the essence rather nicely:    

Carefree, like walking along the river in winter.  
 Strategizing as though fearful of the surroundings.

Taste tastelessness is treated as “know not-knowing” in some editions. I get why some choose that phrasing since not-knowing is a significant concept in my Zen lineage, but I think the original Daoist cosmology has something extra to offer. When meditating on “taste tastelessness,” I find it evokes direct experience more effectively because it’s an embodied instruction. Because cognition is our superpower, words like “know not-knowing” invite conceptual grasping, opening it up to misinterpretation. Either way, the point is to empty out and stabilize a post-state relationship with the absolute—consciousness no longer solely informed by relative content.”